writing the slow life in Hoosierdom

All the News I Care to Share

Things are soggy in the garden right now. Inches of rain, every day, for the last two weeks = mud. Still, the peppers, tomatoes, basil, and mint love the heat. They’re doing well. Melons have not come up at all which is perplexing and sad. The $1 clearance blackberry bush acquired two seasons ago is now huge and firmly rooted. Every time I look at it, I think of blackberry cobbler, and I smile.

School

Library classes are going well. Some classes are even interesting like Local History and Genealogy or The History of Libraries. Others, like Reference and Cataloging, make me wonder if stuff I’m hearing will be obsolete or unrecognizable in 10 years. Some of it is obsolete already! If you’re wondering what the most boring book ever written is, allow me to suggest Anglo-American Cataloging Rules II, the blockbuster follow-up to Anglo–American Cataloging Rules I. (Trust me, AACR2 is no ESB.) Looking forward to an internship and/or a research position for the fall. Hopefully I’ll have an idea of if and how that will work by the middle of July.

The Children Dogs

One night recently, after letting the dogs out for their Ritual Emptying of the Bladders, Beethoven, failed to come when called. Luckily, Alison realized that Beethoven must have discovered a treat more alluring than the boring Snausages awarded for successful completion of the Nightly Ritual. And so began our ordeal. Beethoven had indeed discovered a valuable treat, a dog-standard gold mine – a nest of baby rabbits. Now, how in the world a pregnant rabbit found time and peace enough to make a nest in my yard, a yard I foolishly assumed to be well patrolled by my two hyperactive dogs, I don’t know. As we approached Beethoven, even in the darkness, it was not difficult to see that he was as excited as he could be. Fortunately, he had not yet committed rabbitcide, but had merely removed a terrified creature from the nest and carried it a few feet away, perhaps to better examine his prize. As the alpha dog of our pack, I quickly exerted my dominical right of First Dibs (prima dibs) on all items of value found by other members of the pack. Much to Beethoven’s dismay, I returned the rabbit to the nest, hoping that it would survive its trauma. For the next several days and nights, Alison and I stood guard over the nest, while Beethoven paced back and forth, shooting us pitiful looks as if to say, ‘seriously? I thought we were on the same side!’

Books

Some of these will likely be featured in greater detail later but here’s the stack of books on my nightstand.

The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500-2000 by Fred Anderson
The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay
A Child’s Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Rebuilding Plainfield

Workers repair masonry on the Village Theater. I'm hoping that when the marquee is rebuilt, it says "Under New Ownership"

Along with the complete rebuilding of the downtown Plainfield section of the National Road (which will once again feature narrower, tree-lined streets!) several of the historic building facades are being restored! The difference is striking; to think how long we have been denied access to the beauty of these buildings! The vinyl and aluminum siding was torn off to reveal – brick! Who’d ever cover brick with vinyl and aluminum siding? One facade is complete and three others are in progress!

My old apartment

Among the buildings getting a face lift – The Village Theater, the long neglected gem of Plainfield! Perhaps the owner will donate the building to the town so it can be properly taken care of?

Damn

So a dam in Avon broke, flooding a neighborhood. Did you know there are dams in Hendricks County? Me either. Had no clue. Anyway, apparently this dam was not well maintained by its owner. When a local news team interviewed the owner, and asked what could have been done to prevent the dam from breaking, the owner replied “Not rained so much.”